Humidifier

ABSTRACT

A humidifier having automatic control means respective to the degree of moisture in the air of the space to be humidified is provided with a hygrostatic switch located directly on the humidifier, thus dispensing with wiring connections between the humidifier and a hygrostatic switch located at a distance therefrom. A current of air from the space to be humidified is drawn past the hygrostatic switch as a convection current caused by disposing the air inlet, into an outer casing surrounding a cold water container and a heated water container, at a point adjacent the cold water container and disposing the air outlet at a point distant from the air inlet and adjacent the heated water container.

United States Patent [191 Wunderlin [451 Mar. 27, 1973 1 HUMIDIFIER MaxWunderlin, Mannedorf, Switzerland [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Turmix AG, Kusnacht, Switzerland [22] Filed: Aug. 20,1971 21 Appl. No.: 173,461

[52] US. Cl. ..2l9/276, 219/314, 219/332, 219/362, 219/363, 319/386,219/518,

261/DIG. 34, 261/D1G. 65

[51] Int. Cl ..F22b 1/28 [58] Field of Search ..219/271, 272, 276, 314,332, 219/362, 363, 366, 385, 386, 518; 261/DIG.

34, DIG. 46, DIG. 65, 129, 139, 142; 236/44 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Garofalow et a1. ..126/l13 X 9/1948 Smith ..219/5184/1967 Carlbergetal ..219/518 Primary Examiner-C. L. AlbrittonAttorney-Harold F. Watson [57] ABSTRACT A humidifier having automaticcontrol means respective to the degree of moisture in the air of thespace to be humidified is provided with a hygrostatic switch locateddirectly on the humidifier, thus dispensing with wiring connectionsbetween the humidifier and a hygrostatic switch located at a distancetherefrom. A current of air from the space to be humidified is drawnpast the hygrostatic switch as a convection current caused by disposingthe air inlet, into an outer casing surrounding a cold water containerand a heated water container, at a point adjacent the cold watercontainer and disposing the air outlet at a point distant from the airinlet and adjacent the heated water container.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure HUMIDIFIER CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATEDAPPLICATIONS Applicant claims priority from corresponding Austrian Pat.application No. 9 A 7631/70, filed Aug. 21, 1970.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention For humidifying ofthe air in homes and offices, various types of known air humidifiers areused nowadays, in which water is either atomized, evaporated orvaporized. If it is desired to have automatic control of the moisture inthe room, then a hygrostatic switch, required for this purpose, must bearranged at some distance from the humidifier so that it will be exposedto the actual moisture values in the room, and it must be connected bycables with the heating arrangement of the humidifier. Since in the caseof known humidifiers the air around them is not or is onlyinsufficiently circulated, a hygrostatic switch disposed directly on thehumidifier would respond to the immediate moisture and temperaturearound the device, which do not correspond to the actual conditionsinside the whole room.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention consists in providing ahumidifier with automatic control of moisture with a hygrostatic switchso located that no cable connection to the humidifier will be required.This objective can be achieved by using a humidifier already known, witha container subdivided into two communicating spaces, the heatingarrangement being disposed in the smaller space and a supply of coldwater in the larger space, so that the container will have a hot and acold zone, and if one utilizes the convection current occurring betweentwo air spaces in the case of a temperature difference, for the purposeof bringing the air in the room, which is to be measured in regard toits moisture value, by means of ejector action to a hygrostatic switchdisposed on the humidifier.

To achieve this, the humidifier, with a container subdivided into twocommunicating spaces and intended for the reception of the water that isto be evaporated by means of a heating arrangement disposed in the onespace, according to the invention is characterized by the fact that thecontainer is surrounded by a housing, part of which is spaced at adistance from the container, and the areas of the container and housingspaced at a distance one from the other define an air path whichconnects an air inlet, provided in the housing adjacent to the coldwater space, with an air outlet provided in the housing adjacent to thehot water space, and in the air path and close to the air inlet ahygrostatic switch acted upon by the air, streaming in from the outsidebecause of the convection, has been disposed. The convection current isoptimal whenever the air inlet and the air outlet openings are providedin the housing at those places having the largest temperaturedifference. When, in a preferred embodiment of the humidifier, thecontainer has a rectangular outline and its two communicating spaces arelocated one beside the other, then effectively the air inlet and the airoutlet openings are provided in the housing at opposite sides of thecontainer and at those locations which, in each case, are the farthestdistant from the separating wall between the two spaces, so that therewill be either no, or the least possible, heat conduction from the hotwater space to the cold water space. One or more insulating walls areprovided as separating walls for practical purposes between these twocpaces, and in the same way the cold water space of the container can beeffectively separated by an insulating wall from the adjoining airspace, and the hygrostatic switch close to the air opening disposed insaid air space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further characteristics, details andadvantages of the invention will be apparent from the description whichfollows in conjunction with the drawing, in which FIG. 1diagrammatically illustrates an embodiment of the invention purely byway of example.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The humidifier has a tank 10for the reception of the water that is to be evaporated and which issubdivided by means of a separating wall 1 1, with an insulation 12,into two communicating spaces 13 and 14, the connection of thecommunicating spaces being formed by a channel in the shape of a hose orpipe 15. The heating arrangement in the form of a cartridge 16 isdisposed in the smaller space 13. The steam emerges at the top from anopening 17 from the space 13 containing the water that is to beevaporated, in order to humidify the air in the room or office. Thelarger cold water space 14 has an upper filling opening 18 for fillingit with water. The wall of the cold water space 14, opposite theadjacent hot water space 13, has been equipped with an insulation 19forming the wall.

The entire container 10 comprising both spaces 13 and 14 surrounded by ahousing 20, at least a part of which is spaced from the container andthe housing, spaced one from the other, define an air path 21, whichconnects an air inlet opening 22, provided in the housing adjacent tothe cold water space 14, with an air outlet opening 23 provided in thehousing 20 adjacent to the hot water space 13. In order to form the airpath leading from one side of the humidifier to the opposite side of it,the housing must not be widely spaced from the entire outside surface ofthe container, but a certain zone extending along the entire containerfrom one side to the other will be sufficient, in which the air-path isformed as a result of this spacing of the container from the housing.Near the inlet opening 22 for the air, a hybrostatic switch 24 has beendisposed in the air path 21, that is to say, between the container andthe housing, which can be operated from the outside with an adjustingknob 25.

Since the air in the air space 21, heated by the hot water space 13,escapes through the air outlet opening, air from the room will be suckedin through the air inlet opening 22 and flow around the hygrostaticswitch disposed below said opening, so that the latter will be capableof control based on the actual moisture values inside the living space.So that at least a slight convection current will be maintained in airspace 21 whenever the desired value of the moisture has been achieved inthe living space, the heating arrangement can be automatically switchedover to a reduced heating performance, so that the hot water space willtransmit sufficient radiant heat to the air space below the air exitopening.

The humidifier stands on several legs 30 and an additional leg 31, whichhas been developed as a switch counteracting, by way of spring action,the weight of the water in the container, which switch automaticallyinterrupts the supply of current to the heating device upon reaching aminimum water level in the container and in consequence of the releaseof the spring occurring thereby. In order to transport the humidifier,the two air inlet and air outlet openings are developed and dimensionedon the upper edge in such a way as to provide hand holds.

I claim:

I. A humidifier comprising a container having two communicatingchambers, a heating device mounted in one chamber for vaporizing watersupplied to said chamber from the second chamber disposed side by sideto said one chamber and including cold water, a housing surrounding thecontainer so as to form an air channel between the housing and thecontainer extending across opposite side walls and the bottom wall ofthe container, the housing having an air inlet opening adjacent to thecold water chamber and an air outlet opening therein adjacent saidchamber for vaporizing water, said inlet opening and outlet openingbeing connected by said air channel, the ends to the air channel beingof different temperature and due to convection causing a flow of airfrom the exterior into the channel and through the channel, and ahygrostatic switch mounted in the air channel adjacent said air inletopening and acted upon by the flow of air from the exterior, so as tocontrol the heating device upon the humidity of the surrounding airdecreasing below or increasing above a predetermined value.

2. A humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that thecommunicating chambers of the container are separated by at least oneseparating wall of insulating material.

3. A humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that the coldwater chamber of the container is separated from the adjacent airchannel and the hygrostatic switch at the air inlet opening by aseparating wall of insulating material.

4. Humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that the air inletand the air outlet openings are located in the housing close to itsupper edge and are of a size suitable to form hand holds in order tocarry the humidifier.

5. A humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that uponreaching an intended value for the moisture, the hygrostatic switch willswitch the heating device to a reduced heating performance in order tomaintain a convection current.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,723,707 Dated Mirch 27, 1973 Inventor(s) Max Wunderlin It is certifiedthat error appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

FOREIGN APPLICATION PRIORITY DATA [30] August 21, 1970 Austria 9 A7631/70 Signed and sealed this 16th day of April 197M.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD MJ LETCHERJR. G. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents ORM P0405) (10-59) uscoMM-oc come-ps9 Q U. 5. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE 7 I", 0"!6'33,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,723,707 Dated March 27, 1973 Inv Max Wunderlin It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

FOREIGN APPLICATION PRIORITY DATA [30] August 21, 1970 Austria 9 A7631/70 Signed and sealed this 16th day of April 19%..

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCIIER ,JR C MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer CommissionerofPatents ORM PO-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 A U.5. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE I989 O-l66-33l,

1. A humidifier comprising a container having two communicatingchambers, a heating device mounted in one chamber for vaporizing watersupplied to said chamber from the second chamber disposed side by sideto said one chamber and including cold water, a housing surrounding thecontainer so as to form an air channel between the housing and thecontainer extending across opposite side walls and the bottom wall ofthe container, the housing having an air inlet opening adjacent to thecold water chamber and an air outlet opening therein adjacent saidchamber for vaporizing water, said inlet opening and outlet openingbeing connected by said air channel, the ends to the air channel beingof different temperature and due to convection causing a flow of airfrom the exterior into the channel and through the channel, and ahygrostatic switch mounted in the air channel adjacent said air inletopening and acted upon by the flow of air from the exterior, so as tocontrol the heating device upon the humidity of the surrounding airdecreasing below or increasing above a predetermined value.
 2. Ahumidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that the communicatingchambers of the container are separated by at least one separating wallof insulating material.
 3. A humidifier according to claim 1,characterized in that the cold water chamber of the container isseparated from the adjacent air channel and the hygrostatic switch atthe air inlet opening by a separating wall of insulating material. 4.Humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in that the air inlet andthe air outlet openings are located in the housing close to its upperedge and are of a size suitable to form hand holds in order to carry thehumidifier.
 5. A humidifier according to claim 1, characterized in thatupon reaching an intended value for the moisture, the hygrostatic switchwill switch the heating device to a reduced heating performance in orderto maintain a convection current.